Lapistier (ラピスティア - Rapisutia) is a crystal that gives a witch or wizard their power. Lapistiers have appeared in all Luminous Arc games.
Luminous Arc[]
In Luminous Arc, only one Lapistier exists per element, with each of them corresponding to each of the Elemental Witches. Prior to the start of the story, all of the Lapistiers were scattered across the world, with some came into the hands of the human. According to "The Origins of Lapistier", the Lapistiers originated from star fragments that are capable of collecting the planet's energy. The Witch can utilize the stored energy to power up her spell and strength, although the element doesn't have to necessary match the Witch as shown when Vanessa used the Wind Lapistier's power. However, it appears that only once seven of them are together and used by the Witch of corresponding element that their full power can be utilized.
Throughout the game, one of the Church's goals is to collect all the Lapistiers under the guise of having the Cardinal cleanse its evil in order to use them to create Steel Witches, an artificial cyborg Witches made by combining a normal human with Lapistier, as well as using its power against the Witches themselves. It's later revealed that Vanessa's primary goal is to collect all of the Lapistiers before the Church could, in order to prevent unfathomable destruction from its misuse, and to use them to defeat their God, much to the disagreement of the other Witches, as they believe that the Lapistier's power should be used to heal and protect the planet, not to cause destruction.
- Water Lapistier - Found in the lake of Palu Forest of eastern continent. It fell into the Church's hands before it was finally reclaimed by Alph's group after Kingston's demise.
- Wind Lapistier - In possession of the Eurus Knights of eastern continent, who proceeded to use it in an experiment at the Church's order. It was reclaimed by Vanessa.
- Fire Lapistier - In possession of a blacksmith in the town of Dotruvar on the southern part of western continent. It was reclaimed by Vanessa.
- Light Lapistier - Shattered in two halves and in possession of Alph and Theo. After Alph formed contract with Lucia as her Rym, the Light Lapistier repaired itself.
- Nature Lapistier - In possession of the Witches in the Witch Village.
- Thunder Lapistier - Originally belonged to the Shadow Clan, treacherously annhilated and robbed by the Luminous Church. In possession of the Round Table Council during the events of the game. Used as the heart of Iris the Steel Witch. Reclaimed by Alph's group after Iris sacrificed herself to protect Heath from the Church.
- Dark Lapistier - Hidden by Cecille the Twilight Witch inside Mother Lapis. Later reclaimed after Mother Lapis' destruction.
Toward the end of the game in the battle against against the Wing of Doom, Zehaal's ultimate form, Claire, Vanessa, Mel, Vivi, Mavi, and Cecille use their corresponding Lapistier to power up Lucia in order for her to successfully use the ultimate spell, the Spear of Dawn, to overcome the Wing of Doom's immortality, with Alph protecting Lucia's body with his Rym power, and allowing the party to vanquish the deranged God from this world forever, securing peace for all lives on the planet once more.
Luminous Arc 2: Will[]
In Luminous Arc 2, each Witch or Wizard has a Lapistier and if they had their Lapistier taken away, they would die. Also in Luminous Arc 2, there are six different crests that belong to the Elemental Witch of that element. These crests bond with the Lapistier of the Elemental Witches.
The Kingdom of Carnava also leads various researches in creating and refining artificial Lapistiers to improve the life of its people, with one of such being an Anti-Lapis made by Karen's father, a famous researcher. However, his work was stolen by Wendell who claimed it as his own after having murdered him and Rina's parents.
Luminous Arc 3: Eyes[]
In Luminous Arc 3, Lapistiers are the manifestation of the Eyes that some of the humans have. Among them, there are a few specific subsets of Lapistiers:
- Twin Lapis (双紋のラピス Sōmon no rapisu) - a rare occurrence in which a human manifests two Lapistiers on their body, marking them as a Star Eyes, those destined to decide the fate of the world every thousand years during the Judgement of Time.
- Violet Lapis (紫雲のラピス Shi'un no rapisu) - a human whose Lapistier has a purple-colored radiance. This is due to them being closest in alignment to the Nefiria.
- Chimera Lapis
- Aura Lapis
- Tenness Lapis
Also the name "Lapistier" is almost always used in a shortened form "Lapis" (ラピス - Rapisu). The only exceptions when the full name "Lapistier" is used are:
- in Chapter 13, when Sarah describes the Black Eyes,
- in Chapter 18, when Yuu describes the Chimera Lapis,
- in Heine's ending, when a knight asks Heine about the stone he holds in his hand.
The Lapis colors differ between races - for humans it's blue, for Felicia green and for Nefiria purple.
One of the books in Urgard's Library (available from the first chapter of the game), describes Lapis as:
The manifestation of the "Power of the Eyes" that lies dormant in each person. Lapis can appear in various human body parts and in different sizes. In general, one Lapis is activated per person, and its color is pale blue. It is the source of magical power, and every Magi Knight manifests it.
In Chapter 17 of the game, we learn from Fran and Bonaparte, that Eye Hunts were "emergency measure to prevent humans from turning into Nefiria", because "human Lapis gradually loses its shine as the person grows older and its magical power fades". Then "Lapis, which has lost its shine, changes color to white or black, and humans with black Lapises become demons after death and they will be reincarnated as Nefiria". That's why all Magi Knights retire when they get older.
In the Paradise Hot Springs, to powerup each teammate, Levi has to touch their Lapises. Needless to say, this creates some embrassment as some characters' Lapises are in the "suggestive" locations e.g. Heine's at upper part of his crotch.